Various methods are known for cleaning flocculated slime and other material by liberating mechanically trapped impurities therefrom. In one such known method, the slime is exposed to a downwardly flowing water stream.
Such technique has the disadvantage of excessively increasing the moisture content of the flocculated slime, so that the material must undergo an additional partial drying step. Additionally, it has been found that the water stream is incapable of dislodging all the trapped impurities, while turbulence in the water stream compounds the problem. Also, the waste water resulting from the treatment represents a form of environmental pollution.